The Southern Africa Trust congratulates winners of the 2015 Investing in the Future and Drivers of Change Awards;

The Drivers of Change Individual Award: Professor Romeela Mohee

As Vice Chancellor of the University of Mauritius, Professor Mohee established the Chemical Engineering and Environmental Studies as well as Chemical and Sugar Engineering departments which have a 50% women enrolment. The judges found that she had dedicated herself to empower women in the knowledge of sciences and for improving the lives of rural women.

SWAMMIWA is a civil society group and a member of the Southern Africa Miners Association (SAMA) that has played a pivotal role in assisting former mineworkers reintegrate back into their communities. Migrant ex-miners often retire back to the families highly sick and without financial aid or retirement benefits. SWAMMIWA is being acknowledged for engaging parliamentarians and the Swaziland government in affording ex-miners in Swaziland access to medical assessments and compensation for TB and Silicosis. SWAMMIWA also educates ex-miners on pot-employment rights as well as income-generating projects such as poultry, dairy farming and goat rearing. As a result of this, disadvantaged ex-miners have benefited from improved household nutrition, health, as well as income to support their livelihoods. And this has extended to better lives for their families.

Investing In the Future and Drivers of Change Business Award: Ster Kinekor Theatres

By financially giving towards spectacles for affected school children, Ster-Kinekor is eliminating refractive errors in underprivileged school children. They have contributed to the improved vision of thousands of children in South Africa. To date, approximately 281 100 children from previously disadvantaged communities have been screened, and spectacles amounting to R12, 4 million provided to about 10 400 learners.